~Chapter 31~
“What?”
But the first person to react wasn’t Aveline—it was Count Herolds.
“Why would His Highness the Crown Prince do that?”
“Uh. Good question…?”
Ares mumbled, as if he didn’t know either.
But Count Herolds looked very serious, as if nothing else mattered.
“Then, could it be that the Crown Prince sent those flowers today?”
“Flowers? Who got flowers?”
“Someone sent your sister a basket of flowers, anonymously.”
“What?”
Ares stared at his father in disbelief.
“Is that true?”
He turned to Aveline and asked her again.
When Aveline nodded, Ares muttered as if he still couldn’t believe it.
Seeing their reactions, Aveline started to feel a bit annoyed.
Just then, Count Herolds interrupted.
“Did the Crown Prince say anything else about Aveline?”
“Well, at first, he just asked how she was doing. During our sparring match, he was interested when he heard she was stronger than me. Before leaving the palace, he said he wanted to see us together soon. If you add it all up, he only talked about her for about ten seconds.”
Compared to how seriously Count Herolds was reacting, it wasn’t much time at all.
“Three times?”
Count Herolds asked again, still not convinced.
“For ten whole seconds?”
He asked again, taking it very seriously.
Judging by his worried face, Count Herolds clearly didn’t like the idea of the Crown Prince showing any interest in Aveline.
Aveline couldn’t take it anymore and spoke up.
“His Highness probably just asked about me because I’m Ares’s sister, that’s all.”
“But it was ten seconds.”
Count Herolds insisted, still serious.
“The Crown Prince never mentions things he’s not interested in. For him to ask about you three times, it can’t be just a simple greeting.”
“Huh?”
Now even Aveline was starting to get worried.
Could it be?
She suddenly remembered what Theron said about her being the top candidate to be the Crown Princess.
And that was the last thing Aveline wanted.
“I absolutely do not want to become the Crown Princess!”
Aveline shouted bravely.
Count Herolds and Ares stared at her like she was talking nonsense.
“Where did that come from?”
“That’s a bit sudden.”
Aveline felt embarrassed at their reactions.
“I just got scared because you looked so serious, Father. That’s all.”
She tried her best to look calm.
“I’ve checked that you’re feeling better, so I’ll be going now. See you.”
She quickly left Count Herolds’s room before anyone could stop her.
“Agh, miss! Why are you sweating so much?”
Yoni, who was cleaning the room, came over in surprise when she saw Aveline.
Aveline took the handkerchief Yoni handed her and wiped the sweat from her forehead, finally letting out the breath she’d been holding after running back.
“Did something happen?”
Yoni asked with a worried look.
“No, I just ran for the first time in a while… By the way, what’s this?”
There was a letter on the table next to the huge flower basket.
“Oh, Emma just brought that for you a minute ago.”
“Is Emma in charge of letters today?”
“Yes. The usual letter girl is on vacation and will be back tomorrow, so Emma’s filling in for now.”
As she listened, Aveline suddenly remembered something.
‘Cervel once told me to look for the goat at our house.’
There had been signs someone was intercepting her letters.
“Do you know how long Lisa has been the one delivering letters?”
Yoni thought for a bit.
“Quite a while. Maybe four years?”
Four years—that was when Aveline first started staying home all the time.
‘That’s also when I lost contact with Cervel.’
Since Lisa started, letters stopped coming to Aveline, and her own letters never got delivered.
‘If Lisa hadn’t taken the day off today…’
Would her letters even get delivered properly?
‘I need to check on this for sure.’
The fact that Emma started delivering and letters immediately arrived was suspicious.
‘I need to find out more about this Lisa girl.’
Thinking this, Aveline opened the letter.
“…?”
Surprisingly, the letter was from Cervel.
And the content was even stranger.
[ . ]
“Is this all?”
There was just a single dot on the paper.
She held it up to the window and looked for hidden writing, but no matter how she checked, there was nothing else.
“Is Cervel getting back at me for not replying all this time?”
Knowing Cervel’s weird personality, that was possible.
“Just wait till I see you next time.”
Aveline, annoyed at her childhood friend, fumed at the letter.
“Miss, what should I do with these flowers?”
Yoni asked quietly, pointing at the huge flower basket.
“Just get rid of them.”
Yoni looked puzzled but took the flowers away without saying much.
“Phew. Now the room feels clean.”
Just moving the flower basket out made the whole room feel tidier.
Knock, knock.
Someone knocked on the door.
“Who is it?”
“It’s me.”
“Come in.”
With Aveline’s permission, Ares entered the room.
“I knocked this time, see?”
“Who cares?”
Maybe he remembered getting hit with a pillow this morning.
He had changed into comfortable clothes.
“Why are you here?”
“Oh, right.”
Only then did Ares remember why he came.
“I just saw the maid carrying out a huge flower basket. Was that the one you got today?”
“You came just to ask about that?”
“Sort of.”
Sort of? He was obviously very curious.
“So, who sent it?”
Ares got to the point.
“Well…”
Aveline hesitated, unsure if she should be honest.
Theron’s suggestion to spread rumors about them still made her nervous, and she wasn’t sure how much to trust him.
“Don’t tell me you don’t know who sent it?”
Ares misread her silence.
“It’s definitely not the Crown Prince. He was with me all day. If he sent something, he’d make it obvious.”
Ares’s face suddenly turned playful.
“But a flower basket right after coming back to society? Did someone fall for you?”
“….”
“The Crown Prince asks about you, you get an anonymous flower basket… Don’t you read books like that? If not, you should write one: ‘The Hidden Count’s Daughter Becomes Super Popular Right After Returning to Society!’”
“That actually sounds—wait. Are you making fun of me?”
Aveline caught on quickly.
“Of course not.”
Ares grinned, trying not to laugh.
His whole face looked like he was having the time of his life.
“Get out!”
“You won’t get me a second time.”
He dodged the pillow Aveline threw and ran away, sticking out his tongue as he left.
Still angry, Aveline picked up the pillow and flopped onto her bed.
“I just want to rest in peace.”
She was exhausted after so much excitement and tension today.
Before, she could just take a nap anytime, but now she was afraid of meeting Theron in her dreams.
“How am I supposed to sleep well like this?”
Her life quality was about to drop.
Aveline sat up and straightened her posture.
“In books, people use magic to make barriers and things like that.”
She wasn’t sure how strong Theron’s power really was, but it seemed pretty strong—he could even cross through spaces in dreams.
“Should I try it?”
It might be hard to block Theron with his own magic, but there was nothing to lose.
Maybe it would work.
“Huuu…”
Aveline closed her eyes and focused.
“Let me feel it.”
Please.
She tried to sense Theron’s magic inside her.
After a while, she felt a faint vibration somewhere inside her body.
‘Is it here?’
The feeling was in her lower belly, the same place Theron had once reached out for and Emma had misunderstood.
‘A barrier!’
Aveline focused on that spot, imagining a barrier around her mind.
To her surprise, she actually felt like something covered her head.
“Did it work?”
She opened her eyes, feeling a bit fuzzy.
She had tried to use Theron’s magic before, but it was the first time she actually felt something inside her.
“…I feel sleepy.”
Maybe she used too much energy at once, because she suddenly felt extremely sleepy.
Aveline wobbled and fell onto her bed, drifting off to sleep.
